Americans for Prosperity Colorado has already hammered U.S. Sen. Mark Udall in TV ads for his support of the Affordable Care Act and now AFP is shifting its focus to the state Senate.

In a new ad unveiled this week, the conservative group assails Democratic Sens. Cheri Jahn of Wheat Ridge, Andy Kerr of Lakewood and Jeanne Nicholson of Black Hawk — all Jefferson County lawmakers from swing districts. Democrats hold a single-seat majority in the state Senate.

“Three JeffCo state senators took the ObamaCare train wreck and made it worse,” says the narrator in the 30-second TV spot that will run through July 28.

The bill that AFP attacks the Democrats for supporting was a 2011 measure that passed with bipartisan support. Senate Bill 200, championed in the House by then House Majority Leader Amy Stephens, R-Monument, helped set up the state health care exchanges — a key pillar under the Affordable Care Act.

WASHINGTON — The Colorado races for governor and U.S. Senate are both neck-and-neck, according to new Rasmussen Reports polling data.

Surveys of 750 likely Colorado voters taken on June 25 and June 26 revealed that Democrat Gov. John Hickenlooper and Republican opponent Bob Beauprez are tied at 44 percent. Meanwhile, Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Udall has a one-point advantage over challenger and current U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma.

The margin of error is 4 percentage points.

That Rasmussen found a tight race in the Udall-Gardner contest is hardly surprising — both sides have predicted the election will be close. But the tightness of the governor’s race is less expected.

To explain the poll numbers, Colorado Republicans pointed to other questions in the Rasmussen survey as evidence that support for the Democratic incumbents is declining. Only 19 percent of those polled rated the economy as “good.” Another 78 percent rated it as “fair” or “poor.”

Similarly, support for the Affordable Care Act — aka Obamacare — also was in the negative. Less than 40 percent of those polled viewed it as “somewhat favorable” or “very favorable.” That’s compared to the 58 percent who viewed the Affordable Care Act as “somewhat unfavorable” or “very unfavorable.”

Support for President Barack Obama was negative as well: 45 percent approved of the job he was doing versus 53 percent who disapproved.

A spokesman for the Colorado Republican Party hit all these points in an attack on Udall.

Gardner responded in a video that he changed his mind on a personhood initiative that could have resulted in banning certain forms of birth control after listening to voters — something “Udall and President Obama can’t relate to.”

“The ad speaks for itself,” said Udall campaign spokesman Chris Harris. “It speaks from the heart and speaks to the facts. And, sadly, Congressman Gardner’s troubling record speaks for itself, too — a record no press release can undo, a record too far outside the mainstream to be accepted in Colorado.”

The Colorado Republican Party pointed out despite all the negative attack ads against Gardner, Udall’s own campaign admitted he is behind in the polls.

“Sen. Udall has voted with President Obama 99 percent of the time in Washington, D.C., and has accomplished little as Colorado’s most senior senator,” state GOP chairman Ryan Call said. “If he was proud of his 18-year-record in elective office, he would be touting it instead of lying about Congressman Gardner’s.”

The ad size is small — roughly $150,000 over next nine days — with a mix of broadcast, digital, cable. But it airs at the same time another Koch brothers-funded group, the American Energy Alliance, is spending more than $400,000 for an ad telling Udall to vote for Keystone.

“While many Members of Congress are doubling down on the policies that drive up the tax burden and discourage job creation, Rep. Cory Gardner has taken a principled stand against special interests in support of taxpayers,” Dustin Zvonek, Colorado state director of Americans for Prosperity said in a news release.

Former gubernatorial candidate Steve House has endorsed Bob Beauprez for governor. (The Denver Post)

“Bob and I agree, empowering job creators with fewer restrictive regulations and more common sense will create more good paying jobs for Colorado,” House said in a news release from the Beauprez campaign. “I believe that Bob’s brand of strong leadership is right for Colorado.”

House has worked for Aetna and GE Health Care and will serve as a policy adviser to Beauprez on various issues, including health care costs and Obamacare mandates.

House needed 30 percent of the delegate vote at the Republican state assembly April 12 to get on the ballot. He got 13 percent. Also not making the ballot was state Sen. Greg Brophy, who has not said yet whether he is endorsing anyone.

Four Republicans are on the ballot for governor: Beauprez, former state Sen. Mike Kopp, former Congressman Tom Tancredo and Secretary of State Scott Gessler. The winner of the June 24 primary will take on Democrat John Hickenlooper in November.

Republicans love to tout PolitiFact’s 2013 Biggest Lie of the Year going to “If you like your health care you can keep it.” But what will they think of PolitiFact saying Congressman Cory Gardner’s claim that Sen. Mark Udall cast the deciding vote on Obamacare was “mostly false?”

But did Udall, an Eldorado Springs Democrat, cast the deciding vote? PolitiFact, a Pulitzer-prize winning enterprise of the Tampa Bay Times, checked it out. This is what it concluded:

“Because Udall had consistently sided with the Democratic leadership in votes related to the act, he was not among the handful of undecided senators who (Harry) Reid had to wrangle as the vote was approaching. We rate this claim Mostly False.”

The prolific attack group AFP is keying off the Colorado Rockies home opener today by slamming Democratic Sen. Mark Udall over his support for Obamacare.

Americans for Prosperity Colorado is handing out foam baseballs prior to the game that say “Tell Sen. Udall Obamacare is striking out.” A plane carrying a banner that says the same thing will fly over Coors Field from 4 to 6 this afternoon. The game against the Arizona Diamondbacks begins at 2:10 p.m.

“If Mark Udall pitched baseballs like he pitched healthcare, he’s have washed out of the minor leagues long ago for not being able to throw straight,” said AFP’s state director, Dustin Zvonek. “Not only did the senator throw Coloradans a wild pitch by lying to them about the health law, but he’s been Team Obama’s most valuable player for years, backing a host of policies that haven’t served this state or nation well.”

Said Chris Harris, Udall’s spokesman: “It’s never good to hand out stuff in American politics that says ‘Made in China.'”

Congressman Mike Coffman and his Republican ally, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, have a message for Democrat Andrew Romanoff: stand with us and sign a petition in support of repealing the Affordable Care Act.

Rubio, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, penned a letter on Coffman’s behalf Wednesday, saying “to keep the fight going against Obamacare, we need leaders like Mike Coffman to keep standing up for us.”

Both Coffman and Romanoff, a former Colorado House speaker who ran for U.S. Senate in 2010, are locked in the hotly contested 6th Congressional District race, which in recent days has seen the pair trade jabs on social issues and now health care.

Coffman is among a House Republican caucus that has led the charge in voting more than 50 times to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law since it went into effect four years ago. In Colorado, a recent Quinnipiac poll found that 60 percent of voters statewide disapproved of the federal health care law. And since its roll out last fall, more than 335,000 Coloradans have received notices their insurance policies would be cancelled, though about 90 percent were offered renewal options.

Lynn Bartels thinks politics is like sports but without the big salaries and protective cups. The Washington Post's "The Fix" blog has named her one of Colorado's best political reporters and tweeters.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.